Anyone Had any problems with Gliclazide?

[joeynomates]

Hiya,
I don't seem to be having much luck with meds to help lower my bloods. I have tried metformin and sitagliptin and now the doc has asked me to try Gliclazide 30 mg MR. I took one tablet on Friday morning and after a little while began to feel as though I would pass out. I would also have cold sweats. I checked to see if my blood sugars were going down as I thought that it might be working pretty much straight away. Anyway, my readings didn't change much. Anyway as a result of my weird experience that did frighten me a little, I decided not to take it the next day. My concern is that my blood sugars have risen and yesterday it did read "high" on my meter. This morning it was reading 17 mmol, which I know is too high, but it has gone down a bit.
Just wanted to know if anyone else has had a similar experience. They are threatening me with insulin, which I am now reluctant to take as I believe that I am hypersensitive to all diabetic meds. Can anyone share their experiences too?

 

[mo1905]

Hi, I'm not taking Gliclazide now but I did when first diagnosed. For me, it took about a week for them to kick in. Had no problems with them but on insulin now.

 

[Neil Walters]

I have been on gliclazide for a while and have had no real issues of concern. I take mine first thing in the morning with or without food and I agree the are not a rapid reaction drug they take a little while. Once you have better control you do need to be alert to hypos but 30mg is a very mild dose. I was on 160mg until recently and there is someone on here on 320mg so if I were you I would relax and get them down you as prescribed and the focus on your diet and get better control otherwise insulin it will be.


Diagnosed Type II 1998 1 x 80 mg Gliclazide, 4 x 500mg Metformin and 1 x 100mg Sitagliptin - HbA1c - 48 mmol/mol

 

[scottish-jim]

I take one 80mg in the morning and two at night. No problems to report.

As Neil said - get them down you

 

[Daibell]

Hi. Yes, I'm on 320mg and I have never had any ill effects in 8 years of taking it; not that it helps much now either. BTW I started insulin 4 months ago and only take a very low dose (10 units of Levemir Basal) as I'm very sensitive to insulin, but the great thing about insulin is that it is so easy to adjust your dose if needed for once-a-day insulin. If you find Gliclazide does reduce your sugars as and when you start taking it again then insulin can probably be delayed for a good while as it indicates you still have some good beta cells left

 

[pav]

I was recently put on gliclazide @ 80 mg, the problem I had was coming down from the 20's to more normal levels I had false hypos when my BS was in the normal range.

A bit of a weird feeling though as I never experienced what a hypo effect was. It just meant I kept an eye on my BS levels with regular testing and when I stabilised at more normal ranges the false hypos faded, now I only get hypo signs when my BS goes low.

 

[Moley]

I started taking it about a year after I was diagnosed and it worked really well to lower my blood sugars. Unfortunately I was taken off of it 1 year later as I had put on 2 stone in weight as it is known to have weight gain problems if you have a history of weight issues.

 

[anna29]

Hi All .

When I used gliclazide , if I didn't eat enough it caught me out with a few awful Hypo's .
Remember my GP telling me to eat more whilst on this medication
Thought I had eaten enough to find I hadn't with really awful hypo's .
The hypo's completely knocked the stuffing out of me .
Still remember them well .

Am glad am on insulin now and off the gliclazide .
Find I can eat 'less' and not suffer as bad [feeling] hypo's on animal insulin .
But this is just 'me' ...

Anna.

 

[helen777]

Hi
I was having problems finding a tablet that my body would tolerate and have been through several meds and now mys blood sugars are going up again.

Metformin as far as I'm concerned is not the wonder drug that GP's like to use, wasn't able to leave house for more 30 minutes at a time, the aches and pains were were intolerable.

Next came Acarbose, which made me very windy to the extent I was being woken up at night and not very pleasant to be around due to lack of sleep.

Then came Gliclazide within 2 hours felt like I was going to pass out, felt sick, had to crawl on hands and knees to bathroom where was actually sick.

Got referred to hospital consultant who put me on low dose of Glimepiride which I have tolerated until it was put up at beginning of year and caused headaches. reduced the dosage and was ok. Have has stigliptin added but doesnt seem to be working waiting for next hospital visit to discuss.

 

[Sketcher]

I was on Gliclazide for about a year, until my progressively lower carb intake brought my glucose levels down to normal. While I was on it, I found it very effective and easy to manage, as long I monitored BG regularly and adjusted levels of carb intake and exercise appropriately. I wasn't overweight at the start, and being on Gliclazide did not cause me to gain weight. It's good stuff. My only worry was whether it would "wear out" my pancreas by over-stimulating it, but I have never heard any evidence that it does that.

 

[Robyn1973f]

Everyone reacts differently to different drugs. That's why there are different ones and research into more all the time. I had to go on insulin as nothing else works but even that isn't working and my hba1c stays around 10 with daily readings often around 15. My mum was adopted and nothing on fathers side but mum was diabetic from about same age as me (early 30's) and died at 47. We believe that she was insulin resistant and that I have the same problem.

Don't resist insulin. Or your doctors advice. I'm all for making informed choices but unless you can be sure you know at least as much as your doctors how can you make a good choice?

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[wellwell1212]

I've had issues to varying degress with just about any drugs I have ever taken, just me I believe. :roll:
Glic clicked in straight away and once my body got used to it, I have been fine on 320mg a day for the past years. I tried exercise and diet and it helped but, could not do with out Glic in the end of the day. Got to be better than shooting Insulin :crazy: